Event will be timed with special events leading up to solar eclipse on April 8

KNOWLESVILLE – The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Home, Garden & Outdoor Show on April 6-7 at the 4-H Fairgrounds at a time when the community should see an influx of visitors due to the solar eclipse on April 8.

The Chamber is seeking vendors for the annual Home, Garden & Outdoor Show, which this year will include food trucks, a chicken barbecue, family activities, camping, a bonfire, fireworks and music, said Darlene Hartway, Chamber executive director.

“We are looking forward to combining this historic event with our showcase of the many wonderful businesses available in our area,” Hartway said in a letter to prospective vendors. “We are expanding our show to include a multitude of programs, workshops, events, and fun activities for all ages. We will be utilizing more buildings and outdoor space to accommodate the increase in vendors and attendees. Camping for the weekend event is also available.”

Hartway said the Chamber has boosted the advertising budget and purchased new signage to promote the entire weekend of events.

For more information about being a vendor, contact Hartway at director@orleanschamber.com or at (585) 301-8464.

The Cornell Cooperative Extension is teaming with the Chamber, the Albion Merchants Association and Orleans County Tourism Department for many events at the fairgrounds.

The solar eclipse path of totality will pass through Western New York and Orleans County with the duration of the totality about four minutes beginning at approximately 3:18 p.m. on April 8, a Monday. The partial eclipse starts at 2:04 p.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m.

Events at the Fairgrounds for Eclipse Over Orleans include:

• April 5 (Friday) – Camp sites available. Visitors will receive Orleans County gift bag with discounts to local businesses.
• April 6 (Saturday) – Chamber Home, Garden & Outdoor Show with food vendors and kids’ activities, and a chicken barbecue by Elks. The day is capped off with fireworks at Fairgrounds at 8 p.m.
• April 7 (Sunday) – Chamber Home, Garden & Outdoor Show with food vendors and kids’ activities. There will also be an Orleans County scavenger hunt with prizes for top three teams and one unique hidden prize. There will be a campfire sing-along with s’mores by the Orleans Koinonia Kitchen from 7 to 9 p.m. The Albion Free Methodist Church will lead a Glow Party at 8:30 p.m. at the pavilion with a DJ.
• April 8 (Monday) – There will be food vendors and kids’ activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be kids’ activity from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. featuring the Orleans County 4-H nutritional program leading a session on astronaut food, including hands-on cooking.

Press Release, Orleans County Legislature

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature today said it intends to pass a resolution at Tuesday’s meeting authorizing the county’s Emergency Management Office to utilize $174,000 in grant funding to purchase portable radios for three village law enforcement agencies.

Lynne Johnson, chairwoman of the Orleans County Legislature, said that action will completes Phase II of a multi-year project to upgrade aging portable radios, which have reached end of life.

“Like all technology, radios are not exempt from constant technological advances that are needed to improve overall system reliability and the security of our public safety communications infrastructure,” Johnson said.  “The Legislature will always make investments in public safety a top priority.”

Justin Niederhofer, director of the Emergency Management Office, said, “In a rural community, such as Orleans County, it is imperative to first responder safety that all responders have secure and reliable communication equipment. After determining that most of the portable radio equipment used throughout the county was reaching the end of its usable life cycle, and several radios were no longer being supported or repairable by the manufacturer, the Emergency Management Office launched a project to upgrade the aging radios.”

According to Niederhofer, Phase I of the project included upgrades to all eleven local fire departments at a cost of $229,528 and was completed in 2022.

Phase II includes replacement of radios for the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office at a cost of $165,164, and the villages of Albion, Holley and Medina at a cost of $174,000. As first responder radios are upgraded, the old radios will be utilized to replace older portable radios that are in use by town highway departments and school districts.

These upgrades will expand communications capabilities with our neighboring counties.  Currently all county law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies have direct communication capability with Genesee County agencies.

When this project is complete, the Sheriff’s Office will be able to directly communicate with all bordering counties law enforcement partners. Additionally, the Village of Medina PD will be able to communicate with Niagara County law enforcement agencies and the Village of Holley PD will be able to communicate with Monroe County law enforcement agencies.  Monroe and Orleans County fire agencies are working on programming updates that will allow for direct communications with each other when responding to fires and other emergencies.

The project is being funded by the New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Statewide Interoperable Communications Formula-Based Grant. The grant money is generated from the public safety communications surcharge that is charged by wireless phone service providers to their customers.

The use of grant funding prevents increases in the county, town and village tax levies while improving mission critical communications and operational efficiency for county first responders.

Press Release, Orleans County Youth Board

ALBION – The Orleans County Youth Board today announced it is extending the deadline for youth service program and project funding applications to March 1.

The reason for this extension is to give youth organizations more time to review different funding opportunities since the New York State Office of Children and Family Services made three new funding sources available in 2024.

According to Orleans County Chief Administrative Officer Jack Welch, the Youth Development Program has historically been the main source of funding. This year there are three additional funding sources available for Orleans County – Youth Sports and Educational Opportunity Funding, Youth Sports Education Funding Infrastructure and Youth Team Sports Allocation.

“The Youth Board wanted to ensure that there was no confusion as to which funding allocation each agency was applying for so the deadline was extended,” Welch said. “Hopefully this will provide potential applicants more time to review all the funding opportunities, understand the different requirements for each, and ultimately maximize their funding requests for the benefit of the youth they serve.”

Applications and the required documents for each funding allocation may be found on our Youth Bureau website by clicking here.

ALBION – A State Supreme Court judge has set 10 a.m. on March 7 for a hearing in a court case between Orleans and Genesee counties, where Orleans is trying to block a sewer main from being built on Route 63 in Shelby.

Hearings have been cancelled or delayed the past few months. The hearing on March 7 will be at the Orleans County Courthouse before Judge Frank Caruso.

Orleans is represented by Lippes Mathias LLP in Buffalo and contends Genesee didn’t have the county’s permission to install the sewer main in Orleans County. The sewer, at full buildout of the STAMP manufacturing site in the Town of Alabama, would direct 6 million gallons of treated water to the Oak Orchard Creek.

Orleans states the sewer discharge would have a negative impact on the county’s fishing industry, which is a nearly $30 million economic boost to Orleans County. The additional water from STAMP could also hurt the economic development efforts in Medina by overtaxing the creek, Orleans attorneys say in the lawsuit. (The Town of Shelby has since joined the lawsuit as an intervenor.)

Genesee County in its court filings contend Orleans gave consent to the project, which was years in the making, by never objecting to it – until the very last moment. Its years of silence should be viewed as support of the project, say attorneys from Phillips Lytle LLP, which are representing the Genesee County Economic Development Center and others named in the lawsuit – G. DeVincentis & Son Construction Co., Inc., Genesee Gateway Local Development Corporation, and STAMP Sewer Works, Inc.

The attorneys called the lawsuit from Orleans “a baseless attempt … to obstruct or delay construction of a long-planned, duly-approved infrastructure project.”

The Genesee attorneys claim Orleans is making “obstructionist proceeding” in a last-ditch attempt to stop the project as part of an “extortionate” demand from Genesee for money to get the Orleans blessing.

At full build-out STAMP can accommodate up to 6.1 million square feet of advanced technology manufacturing, office and retail space. GCEDC projects direct employment of up to 9,330 full-time jobs with a regional economic impact for support companies serving the site.

The first two tenants at STAMP – Plug Power and Edwards Vacuum – would have a daily discharge of 50,000 gallons of treated wastewater, GCEDC said.

Press Release, Orleans County Youth Bureau

ALBION – The Orleans County Youth Bureau today announced that nominations are now open for its 42nd Annual Youth Recognition awards.

The purpose of these awards is to recognize those youth who have performed outstanding service for our community and/or have assumed an extraordinary role within their families by helping to support themselves.

“These awards are a great opportunity to highlight the many young people who are doing some extraordinary things in service of others,” said Jack Welch, chief administrative officer for Orleans County.  “Every year, I am amazed at the nominations we receive and it makes me very happy to realize these are the folks who will one day assume leadership roles in our community.”

Anyone is welcome to nominate a candidate, but nominations from family members must be accompanied by a supporting recommendation from a non-family member. Nominees must reside in Orleans County and be a minimum of 14 years of age and under the age of 21 before June 30 of the current award year.

In addition to the youth recognition awards, the Youth Bureau is also accepting nominations for the Helen Brinsmaid Award, given to an Orleans County youth-serving professional, in a paid position, whose work surpasses normal expectations, and the Eileen Heye Adult Volunteer Recognition Award, presented to an adult who serves the youth of Orleans County in a volunteer setting.

All nomination forms can be found by clicking here. Nominations must be submitted to the Youth Bureau by March 31.

For information about the awards, contact the Youth Bureau at 585-589-7053 or OrleansCountyYouthBureau@OrleanscountyNY.gov.

Sales tax up more than $5 million in the county since 2019

Orleans County continues to see growth in its sales tax revenue. The state comptroller reported the county’s sales tax collection went up more than $600,000 from $22.46 million in 2022 to $23.10 million last year.

That continues a streak of sizable increases in the local sales tax, which has now grown by more than $5 million since 2019.

• $23.1 million in 2023
• $22.5 million in 2022
• $21.8 million in 2021
• $19.4 million in 2020
• $17.7 million in 2019

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli reported that 50 of the 57 counties outside New York City experienced growth in the local sales tax in 2023.

Here are the changes among the four rural GLOW counties:

• Genesee up 2.4 percent from $54.87 million in 2022 to $56.20 million in 2023
• Livingston up 6.9 percent from $44.79 million in 2022 to $47.89 million in 2023
• Orleans up 2.8 percent from $22.46 million in 2022 to $23.10 million in 2023
• Wyoming up 5.1 percent from $24.77 million in 2022 to $26.03 million in 2023

Sullivan County had the largest increase among counties in the state at 11.6%, followed by the counties of Schoharie (10.9%), Chenango (7.9%) and Schuyler (7.8%), DiNapoli reported.

Yates County saw the steepest decline in collections (-5.6%), followed by the counties of Cayuga (-2.5%), Steuben (-1.5%) and Rockland (-1.4%).

Local government sales tax collections in the state totaled $23 billion in calendar year 2023, up 4.2%, or $919 million, from 2022, largely influenced by growth in New York City sales taxes, DiNapoli said.

NYC’s sales tax growth of 5.9% in 2023 exceeded the amount for the counties and cities in the rest of the state (2.4%). NYC accounts for about 40mpercent of the state-wide total. NYC’s growth was boosted by increases in domestic and international tourism, which approached pre-pandemic levels this past holiday season, the state comptroller stated.

“Growth in local sales tax collections statewide moderated in 2023, following two years of double-digit increases,” DiNapoli said. “The fluctuations in sales tax collections that characterized the pandemic period have subsided. Local officials should plan for sales tax revenue with more stable and modest growth rates.”

In 2020, during the peak of the Covid pandemic, sales tax collections were down 10 percent statewide, and then increased by 19.1 percent in 2021, 12.7 percent in 2022 and then 4.2 percent in 2023.

Endorsements include 2 who seek to be new coroners: Dr. Julie Woodworth and Kevin Dann

MEDINA – The Orleans County Republican Committee has endorsed John Sansone to be the district attorney, succeeding Joe Cardone, who is retiring on Dec. 31.

John Sansone

Sansone and Susan Howard both work in the DA’s office, and both have been meeting with town Republican committees. Today they met with the full county committee. There were 79 votes this morning at the Knights of Columbus in Medina, and Sansone secured a majority of the votes.

“I think both the candidates are very talented attorneys,” said Skip Draper, the county Republican chairman. “It’s the committee’s job to vote for their first choice.”

Howard has been the first assistant DA for 12 years. Sansone also is an assistant district attorney.

Draper said he expects there will be a primary in June for district attorney, and may be as well for coroner.

Six people sought three positions for coroner. The committee endorsed incumbent Rocco Sidari of Albion, and backed Kevin Dann of Holley and Dr. Julie Woodworth of Lyndonville.

Scott Schmidt, the county’s chief coroner, did not get enough backing for the endorsement. Cassandra Boring, one of the owners of Mystic Dragon’s Lair in Medina, also sought the endorsement and so did former coroner, Dr. Eric Johnson. Charlie Smith of Ridgeway isn’t seeking re-election.

Dann, a former Holley fire chief, is an EMT for the Ridge Road Fire District and a 911 dispatcher at Orleans County Sheriff’s Office.

Woodworth is a member of the Department of Nursing and Allied Health at Niagara County Community College, where she has been recognized with SUNY’s distinguished teaching award. She has a PhD in nursing education.

Other endorsements today include Claudia Tenney for Congress, Rob Ortt for State Senate, Steve Hawley for State Assembly, and Nadine Hanlon for county clerk.

(Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include Dr. Eric Johnson as one of the six people seeking the endorsement for coroner.)

Press Release, Orleans County Clerk Nadine Hanlon

ALBION – Orleans County Clerk Nadine Hanlon today reminded pistol permit holders that with the start of the New Year they should check to see if they are due to recertify their permit with the New York State Police.

Nadine Hanlon

Concealed carry permit holders must now recertify every three years, while those with premises restricted permits will continue to recertify every five years. Those who either received a concealed carry permit or recertified in 2021 must recertify this year by the date of issuance on their permit.

“I want to make sure our pistol permit holders remain in good standing with the state and are not putting their permits at risk, even knowing the frustration many of us feel about this law,” Hanlon said.  “And if you are overdue to recertify from a previous year, I urge you to get it done immediately.”

Hanlon said those who need to re-certify should go to the State Police recertification website at https://firearms.troopers.ny.gov/pprecert/welcome.faces. Those recertifying should have their pistol permit and their New York State driver license or non-driver identification available before they begin the process, as providing specific information from these documents will be necessary.

“Although the Orleans County Pistol Permit Office does not have any role in the certification process nor access to the state system, we will do our best to assist Orleans County permit holders with any questions or concerns,” Hanlon said.  “The state website can also answer many questions or folks can call 1-855-LAW-GUNS (1-855-529-4867) with questions on New York’s gun laws.”